The Scaffolding of Inequality: Social Categories and Labour Mobility in Construction Market of Lucknow

Caste as social capital plays an important role in one's access to marginalised opportunities; communities throughout India are forced to take up low-wage manual jobs. Construction labour is one of the well-known unskilled/skilled jobs in the unorganised sector in India, characterised by low pay and lack of social security. It is usually filled by members of marginalised communities who have inadequate access to any opportunities to break their cycle of poverty and institutional oppression. These also have certain geographies whereby the work is concentrated in the urban areas, and employment tends to be irregular, sometimes characterised by association with a particular intermediary contractor. The job involves backbreaking work pertaining to carrying bricks, gravel, and cement, and there is a certain level of hazards. The occupation also involves persons from marginalised communities, especially Dalits and backwards Castes, because they are generally landless or have very little land holding, not enough to make ends meet and support the family. The occupation in construction labour is one of last resort and a desperate attempt at survival in lack of adequate means and opportunities, and this lies at the nexus of migration, marginality and lack of opportunities.